CIVS Kicks off Virtual Training Project for Automotive Manufacturing

CIVS is collaborating with the Automotive Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative (AMTEC), a National Science Foundation (NSF) ATE Center in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The NSF project will develop a virtual simulator for multi-skilled maintenance technician education. The simulator will help community colleges to better prepare a critically needed workforce and increase the number of students through widespread deployment. The simulator, designed by industry subject matter experts within the AMTEC Strategy Board, utilizes the same parts and equipment that are common to multiple auto manufacturers and includes systems for troubleshooting electric, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and PLC-related problems that occur on the assembly line.

CIVS staff and students visited the country’s largest auto manufacturing plant, located in Smyrna, Tennessee, to learn how the Nissan Training Center is already using AMTEC’s curriculum and physical simulator. The virtual simulator will provide AMTEC college and industry partners with unlimited troubleshooting practice.

AMTEC is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and is partnered with over 70 colleges, companies, and other organizations and is poised to expand into other industry sectors where there is a need for colleges to provide these skillsets. “AMTEC has seen the previous work of CIVS and is proud to have such a distinguished team of Purdue’s best engineers on our project” states AMTEC Executive Director, Danine Alderete-Tomlin..